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VIDEO: City officials preparing to install new cigarette urns 

The city of Charlotte is stepping up efforts to keep cigarette butts off the streets. After the smoking ban went into effect for restaurants and bars this year, the city installed two dozen urns in Uptown Charlotte, and because of their success officials are getting ready to install another batch.

The first 24 urns will be put near the bars and restaurants on Tryon Street. Field Operations Supervisor Les Epperson of the city of Charlotte says he's surprised by the amount of cigarette butts they collect every day.

He credits much of the success to the number of bars, restaurants and smokers cooperating with the ban.

According to the Mecklenburg County Health Department, they've responded to 142 alleged violations and 68 complaints, but they haven't had to issue any fines, only warnings.

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Smoking ban will head to public for a vote  

A proposal that would restrict smoking regulations in Petersburg is one step closer to being put to a vote after passing its first reading at the March 8 Petersburg City Council meeting.

As read during the meeting, ordinance 942 would prohibit smoking in all workplaces and public places in Petersburg.

This all-encompassing ordinance has city council members and Petersburg business owners alike worried about the "big brother," nature of the document.

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TEMECULA: New call for public art guidelines 

Local artists and the National Coalition Against Censorship are asking the city of Temecula to revise its guidelines and allow local artists ---- not city officials ---- to select the works that are displayed in public venues.

In a Monday letter addressed to Mayor Jeff Comerchero, the New York-based coalition states that it is requesting new policies due to recent cases of what it is calling "censorship" and language in the prospectus for an upcoming Western art show that says the city "controls the art to be displayed" in the city-owned Mercantile building.

An art show earlier this year at The Merc was a flashpoint of controversy due to the exclusion of a painting of a nude woman by local artist Jeff Hebron. The city also has come under artistic fire recently for, earlier this year, removing two paintings by Lora Sanders from the public library on Pauba Road: one painting that featured a person smoking and another that featured a person holding a beer bottle. . . .

As for the issue with Sanders' paintings, Doyle said the decision to remove those paintings makes more sense due to the sensitive issues associated with children being exposed to images of people smoking or drinking.

That said, she disagrees with the idea of removing the paintings based on an isolated complaint.

"You'd have to go to the Taliban to find a culture that would ban images of nudity, smoking and drinking," she said.

As for the argument that kids shouldn't be exposed to those types of images in public places, Doyle said, "I don't think that's a legitimate defense of their position." . . .

She said she wasn't trying to make any statement with her work and she sure wasn't trying to become the poster child for smoking.

"I was trying to show real life. A real person. And he smokes," she said.

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VIDEO: Evansville smoking ban heads for vote 

A vote on the new smoking ban proposal is set for Monday night at the Evansville city council meeting. There has been plenty of feedback to the plan, both pro and con.

Right now restaurants are allowed to have smoking sections as long as those under the age of 18 are kept out. The new amendment forces smokers outside-- with a few exceptions.

One bar owner says those exceptions could translate into fewer customers.

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AUDIO: KS Governor Signs Smoking Ban Into Law  

Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson has signed into law a statewide ban on smoking in public places, hailing the law as victory for people concerned about clean air. The ban, which Parkinson signed today (FRI), takes effect on July 1. The governor says it's good news for the health of Kansans.

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• Ex-Southwest Airlines chairman a confirmed smoker  

Kelleher has smoked almost his entire adult life. In fact, when he ran Southwest Airlines for 30 years, it was hard to see him without a cigarette. Waving one around always, sometimes with multiple cigarettes burning in different ashtrays around his office, Kelleher was never far from a puff.

He smoked in elevators, in front of no-smoking signs. He smoked in his office, in his car, in restaurants - if he was awake, he usually had a cigarette going. . . .

The Dallas Morning News talked to Kelleher this week about his decision to give up his signature smokes. Here are some excerpts

We've heard you've quit smoking. Is that true?

It's true and it's untrue. It depends on the locus with respect to time. I did quit smoking completely, and I have backslid.

Did you fall completely off the wagon?

Yes, completely. [While off cigarettes,] I also gained 33 pounds. . . .

What convinced you to give up smoking last year?

I was told that I was losing a lot of lung capacity. Since I spend a lot of my time in the mountains, at heights as high as 7,200, 7,500 feet and many times at 4,000, 5,000 or 6,000, I wanted to be able to continue to do that. I was trying to save my breath, you might say.

Did it help improve your lung capacity?

It did. I have to confess, it did.

Have you lost some of the lung capacity since you resumed smoking?

I'm not sure. I'm not smoking nearly as much as I did. It's way back from where I was. But of course, I was way up there. I think I'll probably have a test in a week or so to see what's happening from a capacity standpoint.

How many packs were you smoking?

I was down to about three when I stopped.

And now?

Oh, I'm up to about one.

We understood you took Chantix?

I did. I took a drug to rid myself of a drug. That worked out great. That's what got me off completely.

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Stores complying with tobacco law 

Sixteen stores visited by Casper police Thursday complied with the law by refusing to sell tobacco products to undercover teenagers, Sgt. Steve Schulz said Friday.

“There were no sales to the minor, which is great and outstanding,” Schulz said. “Every clerk asked for an ID.”

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COLLUM: Never Give Up The Fight To Quit Smoking - And Response (2)  

Quitting is a process rather than an action. If you want to stop, prepare yourself with basic information, a willingness to get support, and by knowing what to do when a 'craving' occurs. . . .

Speak with your physician, use nicotine support groups, or call the free Quit Line (800-784-8669) or the local Tobacco Prevention Program (209-8285). Seek coaching/professional support from informed sources.

If you had short term success before, consider it a learning experience. It does not predict what you can do now. Never quit quitting.

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VIDEO: Wilmington Downtown, Inc. Hosts Cigarette PSA Contest  

Wilmington Downtown, Inc. is hosting a contest open to the public for the best public service announcement to address the cigarette butt issue.

"We hope that this campaign will educate folks who actually smoke to not litter," said Wilmington Downtown, Inc. Executive Director, John Hinnant. "[We want to] make sure that they understand that there is a place for it and it's in the trash can."

People who want to enter the contest should put together a 30 second video and upload it to www.youtube.com.

The winner of the best P.S.A. will have their video shown on local cable television channel 6 WECT News.

For the full contest rules, visit www.wilmingtondowntown.com.

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Four charged in gift card cigarette scheme  

Four Chicago men have been charged in what Lake County officials say was a unique approach to stealing cigarettes from gas stations.

Assistant State's Attorney Marc Bangser said Saturday the group devised a way to keep the gift cards they were using to buy the cigarettes from being charged and walked out of the stations with hundreds of free packs of smokes. . . .

All of the men had purchased cigarettes with gift cards, Bangser said, and the sales appeared legitimate on the card reader inside the station.

But police discovered the men had used a device that blocked the information from the card reader from being transmitted to the issuer of the card and the price of the cigarettes was not being charged to the card.

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EDITORIAL: Smoking Cessation: Presidential Health Care 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use adds "more than $96 billion per year in medical expenditures and another $97 billion per year resulting from lost productivity."

President Obama can do the math: The combined $193 billion per year is nearly twice the projected annual cost of his national health care reform plan.

For the sake of his long-term health and his political agenda, Obama should kick the smoking habit. . . .

As a president, as a parent, and as a role model for millions of Americans, Obama should head to the nearest ashtray and stub out his habit for good.

Our "yes we can" president needs to prove that, yes, he can stop smoking.

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MILLOY: Got a light, Mr. President? I hope not  

Just kidding. I quit a while back. Still, I'd like to know how you'd respond: "Sorry, it's my last one. ... What do I look like, a cigarette machine? ... Smoking is bad for you; that's why I'm trying to quit."

Trying?

By the way, I've never heard of doctors giving such cavalier advice to a smoker as yours did recently: "Continue smoking cessation efforts." My doctor would have said, "Why the hell are you trying to kill yourself? Quit. Now." . . .

So here is the danger in a nutshell: Tobacco use causes nearly one in five deaths in the United States -- more than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide and illegal drugs combined, according to the American Cancer Society.

So what? Understanding the danger hasn't stopped you.

So, just put down the cancer sticks and let the presidential chips fall where they may. Lose your temper, say a dirty word. Make offers that your political opponents can't refuse for a change. Kick the habit and kick some butts.

Back at that White House event last year, I heard you speak so proudly about your daughters. Let's hope that when you hug them, they push away and cry, "Stinky Daddy!" Do not let them get accustomed to that odor -- mouthwash and cologne do not hide it, either. You know what happens when girls start associating tobacco smoke with hugs from a loving father. They end up marrying nicotine fiends, just like dear old dad, and maybe even get hooked on the stuff themselves.

I'm just saying.

So, you got a light?

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• Tax increase an optimum tobacco control measure 

In a report titled “Questions and Answers on Tobacco Taxation in Vietnam” released on March 9, WHO Vietnam said there are no harmful consequences of a tobacco tax increase.

It is unlikely that many people will change to cheaper brands or water-pipe tobacco because the cigarette is largely a brand-loyalty product and substitution happens mostly when the price becomes prohibitively costly, the United Nations agency said.

At the moment the prices of cigarettes are cheap compared to the increased income and have become more and more affordable. Meanwhile, there is also a clear trend of people switching from water-pipe to cigarettes in recent years, the WHO said.

An increase in tobacco taxes could also influence more poor people to give up smoking because their demand is more price sensitive than that of the rich.

The move is also unlikely to affect tobacco farmers in the short and medium term as Vietnam imports about one third of tobacco leaves.

The WHO said an increase in the tobacco tax would not result in a rise in smuggling because tobacco smuggling was determined by many factors including differences in price, the taste of smokers for smuggled cigarettes, acceptance by the public of smuggled products, the strength and effectiveness of anti-smuggling actions, level of transparency and corruption in a country and the level of control on the retailers’ network.

The tax increase would bring in more revenues for the government and is also good for public health. “It is a win-win policy,” the agency said.

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• NH Moving Ahead With E-cigarette Ban For Youth 

Electronic cigarettes are readily available at mall kiosks and the Internet, come in flavors like tobacco, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, and replace smoking with "vaping."

And though they deliver a dose of nicotine steam, they can still be legally sold to and used by minors.

Mara Zrzavy, a 16-year-old ConVal Regional High School student from Peterborough, thinks that's just wrong, and worries kids her age will view e-cigarettes as cool and become addicted to the nicotine. After they're hooked, some will switch to regular cigarettes, which are cheaper, she said.

"It's like having a new cell phone. It's cool. It's electronic," she said.

Zrzavy and other New Hampshire youth involved in anti-drug programs helped persuade the House to pass a bill barring e-cigarette use by minors and hope the Senate will do the same.

Supporters want lawmakers to apply New Hampshire's law on tobacco products to e-cigarettes.

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Electronic Cigarettes Are Tobacco Products, States AAPHP  

The American Association of Public Health Physicians has petitioned the FDA to change their classification of electronic cigarettes from 'drug-device combination' to 'tobacco product,' stating that the change would promote harm reduction.

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